T’au Empire Preview: Dal’yth Sept

The T’au are masters of technology. While the other empires of the 41st Millennium have long stagnated, using millennia-old designs and fearing innovation, the T’au Empire make up for the youthfulness of their dominion by constantly innovating and developing. The forces of Dal’yth, for instance, have all but mastered stealth field technology, outfitting anything from their Fire Warriors to their tanks with the latest patterns.

On the tabletop, this is represented by Adaptive Camouflage, a Sept Tenet that considerably improves the durability of your units:

While you’ll have to plan your deployment and movement carefully with this army, it’s without a doubt the most durable of the T’au Septs, bringing your Fire Warriors up to a 3+ save and your Crisis Battlesuits to an impressive 2+. Some units, however, are particularly powerful…

The Ghostkeel Battlesuit is perhaps the most unusual of its kin, attacking at short range and weathering devastating amounts of incoming fire with an advanced array of sensors and disruptors to misdirect the enemy. In the new codex, Dal’yth Ghostkeels are incredibly difficult to put down, boasting impressive, cover-boosted armour saves as well as their inherent evasiveness. Regardless of whether or not you play Dal’yth, you’ll also be able to take advantage of the improved Ghostkeel Electrowarfare Suite, which now has a better effective range.

What’s more, the XV95 Ghostkeel can be used to rapidly redeploy units of XV25 Stealth Battlesuits, even pulling them out of close combat, thanks to the Wall of Mirrors Stratagem:

With these units, you’ll be able to harass your enemy’s front line with ease, pulling out of combat and taking new positions with impunity.

The T’au Empire employs a range of alien auxiliaries you can add to your army, helping fill a range of battlefield roles – Kroot, for example, are highly cost-effective infantry that are great for filling slots in a Brigade Detachment, while the Vespids make for excellent harassment units, well-suited to taking on heavy infantry. While these units don’t directly benefit from a Sept Tenet, several have received a discount in points in the new codex, and in a Dal’yth army, they’re even more threatening thanks to the Gunship Diplomat Warlord Trait.

In this way, you’ll be able to support your forward teams of Stealth Suits and Ghostkeel Battlesuits and provide a mobile wall of Overwatch fire. Vespids, with the Fly keyword, are particularly suited to this role, able to fall back and shoot.

Dal’yth is the ideal T’au Sept for those players looking to make the maximum use of alien auxiliaries – or just those who want to render their units even more durable than before.

Make sure to come back tomorrow, when we’ll be checking out the most mobile of the T’au Septs – the forces of Vior’la. If you’re itching to kick off your Dal’yth army, the Ghostkeel Battlesuit is a great place to start.